What
bilingualism is NOTFrançois Grosjean is Professor Emeritus at
Neuchâtel University (Switzerland) and the author of Bilingual: Life and Reality
(Harvard University Press, 2010)

August 2010

I have had the chance to live and work for extended periods of time in
at least three countries, the United States, Switzerland and France,
and as a researcher on bilingualism, it has allowed me to learn a lot
about my topic of interest. I have found that people in these countries
share many misconceptions about bilingualism and bilinguals but that
they also have very country-specific attitudes towards them.

Among shared misunderstandings, one is that bilingualism is a rare
phenomenon. In fact, it has been estimated that more than half of the
world's population is bilingual, that is uses two or more languages in
everyday life. Bilingualism is found in all parts of the world, at all
levels of society, in all age groups. Another common misconception is
that bilinguals have equal knowledge of their languages. In fact,
bilinguals know their languages to the level that they need them and
many are dominant in one of them.

There are also the myths that real bilinguals do not have an accent in
their different languages and that they are excellent all-around
translators. This is far from being true. Having an accent or not does
not make one more or less bilingual, and bilinguals often have
difficulties translating specialized language. Then there is the
misconception that all bilinguals are bicultural (they are not) and
that they have double personalities (as a bilingual myself, and with a
sigh of relief, I can tell you that this is not the case).

As concerns children, many worries and misconceptions are also
widespread. The first is that bilingualism will delay language
acquisition in young children. This was a popular myth in the first
part of the last century, but there is no research evidence to that
effect. Their rate of language acquisition is the same as that of their
monolingual counterparts. There is also the fear that children raised
bilingual will always mix their languages. In fact, they adapt to the
situation they are in. When they interact in monolingual situations
(e.g. with Grandma who doesn't speak their other language), they will
respond monolingually; if they are with other bilinguals, then they may
well code-switch. Finally, there is the worry that bilingualism will
affect negatively the cognitive development of bilingual children.
Recent research appears to show the contrary; bilingual children do
better than monolingual children in certain cognitive tasks.

Aside from these common misunderstandings, certain attitudes are
specific to countries and areas of the world. In Europe, for example,
bilingualism is seen favorably but people have very high standards for
who should be considered bilingual. The latter should have perfect
knowledge of their languages, have no accent in them, and even, in some
countries, have grown up with their two (or more) languages. At that
rate, very few people consider themselves bilingual even though, in
Switzerland for example, the majority of the inhabitants know and use
two or more languages in their everyday life.

How about the United States? Einar Haugen, a pioneer of bilingualism
studies, has stated that the US has probably been the home of more
bilingual speakers than any other country in the world. Bilingualism
here is very diverse, pairing English with Native American languages,
older colonial languages, recent immigration languages, and so on. This
said, it is not very extensive at any one time. Currently, only 17% of
the population is bilingual as compared to much higher percentages in
many other countries of the world. This is not due to the fact that new
immigrants are not learning English. The reason, rather, is that
bilingualism is basically short-lived and transitional in this country.
For generations and generations of Americans, bilingualism has covered
a brief period, spanning one or two generations, between monolingualism
in a minority language and monolingualism in English.

The tolerance that America has generally shown towards minority
languages over the centuries has favored the linguistic integration of
its speakers. As sociologist Nathan Glazer writes, the language of
minorities "shriveled in the air of freedom while they had apparently
flourished under adversity in Europe".

When presidential candidate Barak Obama stated that children should
speak more than one language, he was probably referring to the paradox
one finds in this country: on the one hand, the world's languages
brought to the United States are not maintained, and they wither away,
and on the other hand only a few of them are taught in schools, to too
few students, and for too short a time. A national resource - the
country's knowledge of the languages of the world - is being put aside
and is not being maintained.

It is important to stop equating bilingualism with not knowing English
and being un-American. Bilingualism means knowing and using at least
two or more languages, one of which is English in the United States.
Bilingualism allows you to communicate with different people and hence
to discover different cultures, thereby giving you a different
perspective on the world. It increases your job opportunities and it is
an asset in trade and commerce. It also allows you to be an
intermediary between people who do not share the same languages.

Bilingualism is a personal enrichment and a passport to other cultures.
At the very least, and to return to Barak Obama's comment, it certainly
allows you to say more than "merci beaucoup" when interacting with
someone of another language. One never regrets knowing several
languages but one can certainly regret not knowing enough.